Queen
by Chloe Silvers
Summary: Oliver's downward spiral, and how he trusted Chloe enough to give her a white queen. "In chess, the Queen is the King's most powerful ally." Angsty.
1. Chapter 1

A/N: Disclaimer: I do not own Smallville, it's characters, or the main plot.

"_In Chess, the Queen is the King's most powerful ally."_

Chapter One

Oliver Queen was getting ready to fight. He tried to travel in order to escape the guilt, never staying in two places at once. It was how he ran his life after his parents died. But this, this was different and he found himself coming back to Metropolis. He was surprised to see that nobody had come to find him. Yet.

Maybe that was the reason for his return all along- he wanted his punishment. The punishment for leaving in the first place, for not facing his problems. His punishment for being responsible for the death of an innocent man.

He knew that everyone was blaming themselves right now- Clark would say that his belief in the good nature of humanity had finally bitten him in the ass, and Chloe would say that it was because she used the black kryptonite and split Doomsday in the first place, but he knew the truth.

This entire thing happened because Jimmy was involved to begin with. Jimmy had no powers, no experience in this sort of stuff. And Oliver had recruited him nonetheless so that he could stay away from drugs and get his life back together.

And now that Jimmy was dead and gone, nobody was there to lecture or punish him. The one time that Oliver wanted consequences, they were nowhere to be found.

The door to the cage opened, and he stepped inside. He didn't bother sizing up his opponent. This wasn't about survival or victory; it was about taking a beating. His pride was the only thing that made him fight back.

Eventually, he found himself thrown against the gate, grabbing it for support. He threw himself back at his opponent, and got a couple of good punches in before he was on the floor.

"Okay, just…give me a second. I'll be back up", he sputtered.

Suddenly, the guys watching the match were wolf-whistling, and calling out to someone. What was a girl doing here? He looked up to see Lois Lane. She was holding up a sign.

"Hello, legs", he said in confusion.

He let out a groan.

"Legs. Really? Is that a good idea?" she asked him "You're drunk."

"What are you doing here? Where have you been?" he asked

"Didn't you get my messages?" she asked, putting down the sign

The truth was he had no idea where his phone was. And he didn't feel like looking for it, or buying a new one.

"Yeah, my phone's been MIA for a while now." He let out a painful moan. "How'd you find me?"

"It wasn't that difficult to track down the Tabloid Prince of Metropolis. I just had to follow the paparazzi", she explained as she lifted her sign up again. "But your little, uh, boy club wouldn't let me in, so I had to improvise."

"I should warn you, Lois. I'm not having my best round, here."

"Yeah, I noticed. Look, you may be on some death-wish fast-track, but I could really use a dose of hero about now." She waved away some random guy. "Listen to me, I blacked out three weeks ago and woke up in a monorail car that jumped off the tracks, and now some assassin woman is after me."

"Could you repeat that?" he asked, trying to ignore the stinging pain on his eye.

Suddenly, he heard glass breaking. He ducked down, and brought Lois with him. A woman walked forward, and her eyes started to glow. He had seen that look before in Clark, right before he incinerated something.

"Everybody, down!" Oliver shouted.

Her eyes returned to normal, and the woman spoke. "I knew you'd be watching me", she said. "I was never after Lois. I want you."

Oliver saw Clark behind her. There was a whoosh, and both of them sped away. He saw the Kryptonian symbol on the gates.

Everyone in the room ducked out the moment that it was safe. Everyone except for Lois, who found a nearby medical kit and sat him down after dipping a cloth in some rubbing alcohol.

"You're a mess", she said bluntly.

"Yeah, why don't you just come out with it, Lois?"

"I'm disappointed."

"There you go, see, you sound like every other ex-girlfriend I've ever had."

She put the cloth to his forehead. "Yeah, but I'm _not_ like every other ex you've had."

"You're not. I seem to get you back in my bed." He took a swig from a bottle that was lying around.

Lois chuckled. "You know what? You can't fool me. You risk your life to help strangers. So you can plaster that frat boy grin across your face, but I know that you're a real hero underneath."

It was bullshit. If Lois knew that, then she would still be with him. She wouldn't have run off when she found out what he truly was.

"Look Lois, when are you going to learn, okay? I'm nothing more than a shallow playboy. I've got the tabloid covers to prove it."

"Then how do you explain the whole Green Arrow thing?"

He took another swig. "You know, the whole hero thing distracted me for a little while. So did you."

She pressed the cloth to his eye harder. "Ow, ow ow ow"

"You're an obnoxious jackass."

"There you go, see? Now you've finally started to catch on. Look, I'm sorry if you thought that I was anything more than that, Lois, but it's not my fault."

"You know what? That's okay." She got up, and started walking backwards.

"Really?" he asked

"I guess you know yourself better than anyone." She walked away.

She turned around for a moment. "You know what? Maybe I don't really need you, Ollie. I've already found my real hero." She turned her back on him and walked out of the fight club.

He looked at the symbol that was still branded on the gate. Clark. Clark replaced him as a hero in her eyes. Lois had no idea why he was like this, didn't even bother to ask. She turned her back on him, and that was fine.

Oliver did know one thing for sure, he couldn't fight anymore. He didn't want another intervention with Lois, or trouble from Kryptonians for that matter.

His first instinct was to find Chloe or Clark in order to find out why there was a Kryptonian running around, but he didn't. He made his way back to the Clock Tower, because he was tired. He was tired of involving himself in Clark's alien problems.

He expected to wake up in the morning with an intense hangover, but it never came. And he wasn't thankful. He punched through his glass table in frustration, and didn't even attempt to clean up the mess or his bleeding knuckles.

He opened the liquor cabinet, and grabbed a bottle of whiskey. He poured himself a glass, and sat down at his couch. He stared at the pile of fragments on his floor, and refreshed his drink again and again.

After his seventh drink, he saw a shimmer of gold reflect in the pile of glass. He turned around- Chloe Sullivan was in front of him, wearing a long gold dress. He had seen her in that dress before, briefly before passing out at a fundraiser. That was the night that he had been poisoned.

"What's the occasion?" he asked her

She walked silently over to a closet, and pulled out a broom. She swept the glass in a neat pile, and threw it in the garbage can.

"That's very nice of you, Chloe, but why are you here?"

She didn't answer. Instead, she opened pressed the button to his elevator.

"What, so you clean up my mess and leave without a word? I know you're mad at me. You can yell at me if you want. Let's have it out." He called out

The doors opened, and she stepped inside. He sprang up to his feet. "Chloe, wait!"

She just stared at him as the doors closed. Oliver pressed the down button repeatedly in order for the doors to open again, but it was too late. He walked back to the couch, and stopped abruptly.

The pile of glass was still on the floor.


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I do not own Smallville, it's characters, or the main plot.

A/N: The main basis of this fic: In chess, the Queen is the King's most valuable ally.

Chapter Two

The next day, Oliver went to a liquor store and stocked up on everything. He was exactly sure of what happened the night before, but he had a feeling that it happened because he was drinking from the family collection. Those bottles were ancient.

He stepped out of the elevator, and threw his keys on the floor somewhere. He took off his shoes, and sat on the couch. He struck his hand in the shopping bag, and pulled out the first bottle his fingers touched.

He opened it up and took a small sip. He looked around, and smiled to himself when he found that he was still alone. He started gulping down the contents of the bottle.

When he finally put the half-empty bottle down, she was sitting in a chair across from him. She was wearing that golden dress again.

"Great. Just great." He said as he wiped his mouth with the back of his hand.

She started twirling a golden lock of hair around her fingers aimlessly. She still hadn't said a word. Maybe she couldn't speak. Chloe Sullivan rendered speechless- that would be a riot.

"Can you just say something? Please?" he asked

"What don't you tell me what you want me to say?" she asked, releasing the lock of hair

"So you _can_ speak. But you're not real, are you?"

"I'm real to you, aren't I?" He nodded "Then, that's all you need to know."

"Well it looks like we're back to being on a need-to-know basis, then. Aren't we, Chloe?"

She sent him a questioning look. "You never told me about Davis, or that you were going to use the Black Kryptonite. You didn't even tell me that you stopped Clark from sending him to the Phantom Zone." He explained

"And you never told me that you shot Clark with a Kryptonite arrow", she reminded him.

"Wait, how do you know about that? Did Clark tell you?"

"No, your memories did."

"My memories…sure, that makes perfect sense" he said sarcastically.

"I'm a part of you, Oliver. Just as much as I am Chloe. An image of your memories and hers."

"Why are you even here?" he asked

"You needed me. And unlike Lois, I'm not going to leave you."

He was having hallucinations about Chloe Sullivan, and she just promised not to leave him. And the worst part was that he felt some comfort from this.

"Am I…crazy?" he asked her

"No, you're not crazy. But if you don't stop this, you're going to end up dead."

He couldn't figure out for the life of him why Chloe was being so nice to him. She should be crying, screaming and punching him, _something_. But here she was, concerned for him.

"I've been drunk like this before, way before I met you. This isn't going to _kill_ me."

"Being in this…state is making you vulnerable. People can take advantage of you, Oliver. Why are you doing this to yourself?" she asked him softly

Her kindness was making his guilt even worse. "I have a better question. Why don't you hate me right now? I'm responsible for the death of your husband."

"If you think that Jimmy's death was completely your fault, then you have a much larger ego than I thought you did."

"You don't understand, I'm the reason as to why he was even on the scene to begin with."

"Actually, since I have all of your memories, I _do_ understand. And because of that, I know that it wasn't your fault."

"Right, my memories. Look, I hired Jimmy with the sole purpose of finding out more about Davis", he finished slowly, as if she were dense.

She crossed her ankles. "Actually, you hired Jimmy in order to help his state of living. You were genuinely trying to help him, and he was developing a drug addiction. Your company deals mostly with technology, and since he couldn't fulfill any real job position, you paid him to do research. You purposefully gave him long hours in order to keep him off the street."

"I knew what I was getting him into, and I still didn't stop him- he's not like us, Chloe. He doesn't have experience in doing what we do, and he doesn't have abilities like the other members on the team. Some part of me knew that he was going to die. Why don't you hate me for it?"

"Because I couldn't hate you even if I tried."

"What?"

She got up and walked over to his desk. He followed her.

She sat down at his chair. "You were right here. Do you remember? You were right here the day Bart was stuck in that 33.1 facility and Clark went running in after him. You threw me that headset and gave me the name of Watchtower."

"I remember."

"And when I was separated and alone on my birthday, you were around. Your presence helped me realize that I could play a greater role in the world."

"Yes, but"

"-Oliver, you gave me so much. I could never abandon you, after everything that you've done for me."

She was thankful for him? Why couldn't she see that he was the enemy here?

"That doesn't make what I did right!" he roared

She looked at him, startled.

"Look, Chloe, get out of here. I don't need your help- I don't need anybody."

"Because you're doing a hell of a great time on your own", she said, gesturing towards his cuts and bruises. "When was the last time you even put on your suit and saved someone?"

"I save people by not putting on the suit."

"Right", she said sarcastically. "Run that logic by me again?"

"The more involved I am in people's lives, the worst off they are."

"So if you don't prevent a local jewelry shop burglary from happening, the owners will be richer?"

He frowned. "You know what? I don't have to listen to this. I don't even know why I'm here arguing this with you." He got up, and looked around for his keys. They were here, somewhere.

"Where are you going?"

"I'm out of here. Just as soon as I can find my keys."

"So you're drinking and driving now? You see, maybe you can apply your great logic here. If you go out on the road drunk, you're going to hurt people. You're going to put them at risk. Do you really want that?"

"You're not real. Any advice that you have to give isn't going to help me." He got down on the floor and started looking for his keys. He finally found them and stood up.

"Oliver, no, where are you going?" she asked as he gave the down button on the wall a sharp jab. The doors opened, and he stepped inside of the elevator.

"Please listen to me", she begged as he pressed L.

"I don't have to." He said as the doors closed

He swaggered down the street, and got inside of his car. He turned on the ignition, and was about to pull out, when he started getting dizzy. Maybe Chloe was right. Or the image or her, anyway. The image of her that carried both of their memories.

He shook his head violently. Now he was starting to confuse himself. He turned off the car's ignition, and sat for a moment.

He wondered if Chloe would be upstairs waiting for him when he came back. Was there a time limit to how long she could stick around? Was she restricted to the Clock Tower? Should he take the chance, and drive to a bar anyway?

He fell asleep in his car before he could decide.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three

_In chess, the King is allowed to move in every direction, but only one square at a time._

He woke up late afternoon, and rubbed his tired eyes. That was becoming a fast habit- he didn't even bother going to work anymore. He didn't deserve to be the CEO of his company, to take over the company that his father built. The board members had been telling him that he wasn't good enough for years. He usually fought back, trying desperately to prove them all wrong, but he wasn't going to do that anymore.

He was sick of fighting. Tired of fighting company after company at work and villain after villain on the streets. Of risking his life in order to save those who would be unappreciative of him afterwards.

He was tired of fighting the guilt as he watched the news and saw that there were things that he didn't stop, things that he had missed. Children who had ended up being kidnapped, women who ended up having their purses stolen, and he knew that there would always be slipups.

He was never in a position of power where he could finally trust people, where he was so high up that he could trust that his board members weren't going to manipulate him. Instead, the higher he got, the worse it became. Beggars were probably the most trusting of people. They depended on others in order to get by, however filthy they were.

Even though he trusted Clark with his life, when it came down to the city, Oliver knew there would be people that even he missed sometimes. So while Oliver knew that he shouldn't be involving himself in people's lives, he knew that leaving them to fend for themselves was just was bad. Whatever he did or did not do, Oliver was screwed.

Out of all the people that he couldn't trust, he couldn't trust the women that he was with. They were usually after his money, telling him to take them to expensive restaurants, and trying to fake pregnancies so that he would marry them. Heiresses, models, actresses, they were all the same.

The only real relationships that he had were with Mercy and Lois. They were both so different when he met them. He didn't think that he would ever figure out why they were different from all the other women. But he couldn't rely on them anymore. Both women had turned their backs on him now- Mercy had a long time ago and Lois had only recently.

Lois said that she didn't need him anymore, and he cheated on Tess. Maybe that was who he was supposed to be in a relationship- either the one that leaves or the one who isn't needed anymore.

But Chloe, she said that she wouldn't leave him. He wondered if she was telling the truth, or if that was just the hallucination talking. She was never interested in money, even though the gadgets that it could buy had always intrigued her. That seemed different somehow. Always did.

He didn't know if he should trust her. She seemed to have his best interests at heart. If she wanted to harm him, then she could have let him leave freely. She was visibly upset at the thought of him driving while drunk. Maybe he could trust her after all.

He wondered what her limitations were in his head- if she had a time limit, and if she was restricted to the clock tower.

Even more so, he was curious as to how far she was willing to go in order to stay with him. In person, she always had a way of walking in his life unannounced and changing it. She had never walked out.

There was only one way to find out. He turned on his car's ignition and pulled out.

After a long afternoon of driving, he made it to Grandville. What a silly name. There was nothing grand about it, at least in this part of it. No charm, no individuality. Even Metropolis had a unique feel to it, although it couldn't compare to Star City.

He found a trashy bar- somewhere nobody could recognize him and think that he was crazy if he started talking to himself.

He walked inside, and got the bartender's attention. He slapped a thick wad of bills down on the tale. "Get me your most expensive whiskey, and keep them coming until the money runs out", he told him.

The bartender nodded and took the money. He poured Oliver a glass and set it on top of a napkin on the table.

He gulped it down, and true to his word, the bartender refilled the glass again and again.

She was sitting next to him at the bar. "What are you doing?" she asked

He smiled to himself. It was her alright- golden dress, fancy heels, and all. "I knew you'd be here."

She looked angry. "You got drunk to talk to me? Why would you do that? The real Chloe is only a phone call away."

"I wanted to see how far these little hallucinations can go."

"So you got yourself plastered again in order to test out a theory?"

He shrugged. "Something along those lines."

"Well don't."

"It's my mind. Doesn't that make me the boss or something?"

She nodded. "Sure. Your mind is your own. I'm here to help you, not to control or kill you."

"So I can trust you." It was more of a statement than a question.

"Do you trust Chloe?" she asked

"Yes", he replied without hesitation.

"Well, that's a start anyway."

She never answered his question. Not really. "So, if you're here in my head, does that mean that I'm in Chloe's head, helping her to cope with her husband's death?"

"Look at you." She said, turning to face him. "Do you really think that you're in any condition to help her in this state?"

He chuckled. "So that's a no."

She smiled slightly. "Oh yeah, that's a no."

There was a long silence. Oliver studied the bartender. Either he didn't notice him talking to someone else, or he didn't care.

"Is she okay?" he asked "The real Chloe, I mean."

She folded her hands, which were resting on her lap. "She will be. Eventually. One step at a time there, Ollie."

"Ollie? You never call me Ollie."

She raised an eyebrow. "Should I stop? Keep things on a need-to-know-basis?"

He shook his head. That was the last thing that he wanted. "No, Ollie's fine."

Her half smile developed into a full one. "Okay, then."

He stared at the table silently. He didn't realize it before, but the golden dress really looked beautiful on her. "You know, even if this entire thing isn't real, I'm glad that you're here." He turned his head to look at her, when he discovered that she had disappeared.

Where had she gone? Why was she gone? He was starting to get angry- she promised that she wouldn't leave him.

The bartender looked at him strangely. "I'm sorry, did you say something?"

"No", Oliver said. "Nothing."

He stared at his glass. It was full. Oh.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter Four

_In Chess, it is almost always disadvantageous to exchange the queen for a lower piece._

Oliver drove back to Metropolis, angry and more sober than originally intended. It took him almost the entire drive back to Metropolis before he realized why he was mad. He came to the conclusion that he wasn't mad at Chloe for leaving, but frustrated with himself beyond belief because he cared for her.

Right when he didn't think that there was anything left in him to care for someone else, she came back into his life. Made him desperate to see her again, and made him wonder about the real Chloe Sullivan.

Tonight, he became dependent on her presence- that was why he got drunk. It was never about testing out a theory; it was about hoping that she would stay with him regardless of his location. And she did. She came back when he needed her, although she couldn't stay for long.

With each passing day, it was becoming more and more difficult for Oliver to separate reality from illusion. If he wasn't careful, he was going to find himself in love with her, and if that became the case, he would be in trouble.

At the end of the day, she was a hallucination, and nothing more than that. He couldn't kiss or touch a hallucination. There could never be physical contact. Right now his strongest friendship wasn't real, and that made him feel lonelier than ever.

He drove to the ace of clubs, hoping that he wouldn't bump into anybody that he recognized. Right now, he only had one thing on his mind- nullifying the loneliness that he was currently feeling. If he brought someone back to the Clock Tower maybe he would feel better, even if it was a temporary fix-it.

He set his eyes on a brunette sitting at the bar. A blonde would remind him of Chloe. He also had to make sure that he didn't touch a drop of alcohol- he wouldn't be able to do all of this if she was standing there innocently in that golden dress. If he made her appear again, he would feel guilty to the point of just walking away.

It didn't take much to charm the woman. A couple of smiles and conversation starters and she was babbling about modern day technology and how far we've come from letter writing to e-mails. Nothing truly groundbreaking, but then again, he wasn't here for a good talk.

He took her back to the Clock Tower, and nothing went according to plan. His shirt was off, and his belt was loosened. The buckle fell off, and the woman bent down to pick it up.

"It's fine. Leave it." He told her

She looked at the buckle. "Is this a camera?" she asked him

"What?" he asked, grabbing the buckle from her hand and turned around. He looked at it closely, and found that she was right. There was a small lens on the buckle. He hadn't noticed it before.

"It's some kind of spyware", he said more to himself than to his date.

She gave him a look. "Well, it's not mine. I've never seen this", he said defensively as he turned to face her

"Right", she said walking towards him. "So this accidentally got caught on your belt buckle?"

She grabbed the buckle. "So you could what? Plaster my butt all over youtube like Pamela Anderson?"

She set the buckle down on the table and started to walk away.

"Okay, well first of all, no one's on youtube looking at Pamela Anderson's butt", he started. Why was he defending himself? He did nothing wrong, and had no real emotional connection to this woman.

"Don't call or e-mail."

"Don't worry, I never do." He replied

She slapped him in the face and left. He looked at the buckle for a moment, and flipped it around. Whoever planted the camera knew him very well in order to get this in his belt buckle. Who was the last person that he was in a relationship with?

"Mercy", he muttered.

He drove over to the Daily Planet, and opened the door to Tess Mercer's office.

"We need to talk", he said as he closed the door and locked it.

It looked like Tess was sleeping at her desk. "Hey, what are you, sleeping on the job?" he asked as he poked her awake.

Her head shot up. The red hair was the same, but her entire body was different. From his video gaming experience, he would say that she looked like a zombie.

She launched herself at him, and pinned him down. "Tess…I don't want to…hurt you." He sputtered

She took a decaying hand to his throat, and started to strangle him. He lifted both of his feet up, and kicked her across the room. Her head hit the desk in front of them, and she was knocked unconscious.

He got up from the floor, and turned to the door. A zombie just like Tess was gathered at the door. He knew that with the internet, the written word was becoming dead, but what was going on in this place?

He needed something to defend himself. He walked over to Tess, and pulled a bobby pin out of her hair. He twisted it, and used it as a lock pick. He unlocked a drawer in her desk where he knew Tess kept a shotgun and ammo. He put the strap over his shoulder, and loaded the gun.

He shot at the glass door, and stepped over the body to find Lois and Clark standing there.

"Oliver? What are you doing here?" Lois asked

He reloaded the gun. "I was looking for Tess when this whole building went Resident Evil."

He could hear another zombie nearby. "Come on", Clark said as he led them to the elevator.

"Do you have any idea what triggered the sudden appetite for Human Carpaccio?" he asked

"All I know is that one second my copy-editor's dozing, the next he's trying to bite my face off", Lois said.

"Same thing happened to Tess. She was asleep, and when she woke up, she became one of them." Clark told him

"So you think this thing incubates when people are sleeping?"

"Well let's hope not. We only have four hours until 4 million people get up to go to work." Lois said

"Some hell of a rush hour", he commented.

The elevator doors opened. "Get in here", Clark said. "You'll be safe."

Oliver got in the elevator with Lois. Clark didn't. "Clark", Lois said.

"Someone's got to go for help."

"Please be careful", Lois told him.

"Everything's going to be alright", he assured her.

Oliver saw the tension between the two, and decided to break it. "Okay, good luck Clark", he said before pushing the button to go to the Lobby.

Clark put a hand in front of the door. "Oliver, she's in your hands now. Don't let her fall asleep." He let his hand go, and the elevator doors closed.

Oliver pressed the emergency stop button halfway down to a floor. Unless the zombies could get through the elevator shaft, this was the safest place for them.

He stared at Lois as he gripped the shotgun. She may have turned her back on him, but if he fixed things with her, he didn't have to be alone. Maybe he was just feeling desperate, but being in an elevator alone with her stirred up old memories. To feel the way that he did back then would be nice.

"Ollie, look at you. You're a mess." She said, breaking the silence

"Yeah, I know", he admitted. It had been days since he had shaved, and he had developed feelings for the hallucination of Chloe. The last thing he wanted to do was go crazy.

Being this sober was going to give him a headache very soon. He took a bottle of pain medication from his pocket, and popped a pill in his mouth for precautionary measures. This didn't look good at all.

"I'm sorry you have to see me like this, Lois", he said as he stood up. He looked at the reflective part of the elevator door. As he gazed at his own reflection, he realized just how far he had fallen. Clark sacrificed himself, when it should have been him. Oliver didn't have the courage anymore. At least, not the courage of a hero.

"Why don't you, um, why don't you go ahead and tell me that I'm full of it, Lois? Like you always used to, huh? God, I miss you."

"I miss our days together", he clarified. "Deep down in your heart, I know you do too", he said. Maybe if things were the way they used to be, he could fix himself. He was a desperate man, but he was living through desperate enough times.

He turned to face her, when he saw that her eyes were closed. She hadn't heard anything that he said. She had fallen asleep.

He walked over to her. "Lois, come on. Hey, Lois", he shook her. "Hey, wake up."

Her eyes opened, and she growled just like the other zombies. It was too late.

She struck him, and he flew to the other side of the elevator, and fell to the floor.

When he got up, the top of the elevator was torn apart, and she was gone.

Oliver was out in an alley. He leaned against his motorbike, and pulled a flask out from his pocket. He took a sip. Not enough to get drunk. Yet.

He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand as he heard Clark super-speeding towards him.

"Here we go", he said to himself in preparation for the lecture to come. He had been waiting for a good Clark Kent lecture. But this wasn't about Jimmy Olsen's death. Not now, at least.

"You only had to do one thing, Oliver", Clark said as he walked towards him. "Keep her awake. But Lois almost died. You spiraled down so far you couldn't even protect her. Is there any part of the person I used to know still there?"

Oliver realized now that it was too late to go back to what could have been. It was too late to wish for the old days with Lois Lane. He wasn't innocent enough. "Maybe not", he answered.

"Look, I understand that it's hard trying to figure out how to come back from what happened. Maybe you need help."

He doubted that Clark understood. Clark always had a way of bouncing back from things stronger than before. And Clark wasn't responsible for Jimmy's death, he was. Clark wasn't having hallucinations of someone who understood him better than anyone real. He was. Clark was in no position to understand, and neither was Lois.

"Actually, I took a look in the mirror, and you were right. I've been running away from myself for a long time now. Now I know who I really am."

"Then, you know what you have to do", Clark said.

"Yeah." He got up. "Thank you, Clark."

He watched as Clark walked away. The truth was that he had no idea who he really was, and he didn't know what he had to do. But he knew that Clark Kent couldn't help him.

He also knew that the way Clark immediately sacrificed himself at the Daily Planet was the mark of a true hero. And Oliver didn't have that anymore. Maybe it was time that he stop pretending to be a hero until the time came that he could truly wear the suit.

He reached into a bag, and pulled out the Green Arrow suit. He didn't deserve to wear this. Not anymore. He threw it down on the ground, and poured the rest of the contents of his flask onto the suit. He took out a lighter, and lit it. He stared at the flame for a moment.

He threw the lighter onto the pile, and watched the costume go up in flames. He hopped on his motorcycle and sped away. There was no going back.

Chloe Sullivan watched from a corner as Oliver disappeared. She took off her jacket and smothered the flames with it. She remembered the conversation that she had with Emil earlier that morning.

"May I ask why you're spying on him?" he asked her, in reference to the camera that she stuck on Oliver's belt buckle weeks ago, not to mention the other cameras hidden on the other League members.

"The longer they stay separated, the more vulnerable they are."

"So you're protecting them?"

"Yes! Someone has to. I'm not sure if you've noticed, but the people who are the worst at taking care of themselves are the ones the world actually needs the most."

She watched as Oliver burned his suit, and with it a part of him. She picked up the battered Green Arrow suit, and tucked it under her arm. She knew that she was doing the right thing. Oliver and the rest of the team needed her right now, and she was going to save them.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter Five

_Although the Queen is the most powerful piece in the Chess, the game existed for five hundred years without her. _

Oliver was starting to feel Clark's presence everywhere. The Blur was always mentioned, and it felt as if Metropolis' newest hero was mocking him somehow.

A part of him wanted him to fail. He wanted to feel as if Clark couldn't handle the entire city on his own, that the Green Arrow was needed for the greater good. He was looking for that inkling of motivation, but even that was denied to him. Clark was doing just fine without him, and Oliver was starting to feel unwanted in the city.

He stopped going to bars because the Blur was always a topic of discussion with the bartenders. They loved the Blur and they loved to hate him.

He read the paper for the sheer purpose of making sarcastic remarks underneath his breath from time to time. Even that didn't stick. After about two weeks, he cancelled his subscription to the Daily Planet. He was sick of the Lois and Clark bylines, and was tired of reading about the Red-Blue Blur.

Eventually, he locked the door to the Clock Tower and stayed there. He had no idea what was going on in his own company. It had been a long time since he cared.

The one thing that he was still consistent with was his work-out routine. He lifted weight, ran on the treadmill, and did his morning yoga every day without fail. It was only the target practice that was left out of the picture.

He gave Chloe his bow, and left without an explanation. Strangely enough, it didn't seem as if she needed one. He hoped that she was keeping it safe, but at the same time, he knew that she would. At the end of the day, he trusted her, and that was all the reassurance he needed.

After finishing his exercise ritual and showering, he took out a newly purchased bottle of scotch, and chugged some down. His throat was numb these days and didn't even register the usual burn of alcohol going down anymore.

"You need to shave", she said as she appeared next to him.

"Is it possible to drink your soul to death?" he asked, ignoring her comment "because I don't seem to care about much of anything these days."

"Now, we both know that's not true."

"Oh, really?" he asked, surprised

"You care about your appearance…somewhat", she said, gesturing in the vague direction of the gym.

"Well, that's not much."

"It shows that the old ego is still there", she said as she took off one heel. "Ah, that's better." She breathed a sigh of relief as she slipped off of the second shoe

"Why do you always wear such high heels if they hurt your feet so much?" he asked

"And you seem to care for my wellbeing. That's sweet Ollie, it really is."

"Apparently more than I care about being the Green Arrow. I burned the suit", he explained.

He was waiting for a lecture, for her to tell him how disappointed she was in him.

She shrugged instead. "You can always get a new one made."

"I gave my bow to the real Chloe", he told her.

"It's probably better in her hands than your own right now."

"You might be right about that." He agreed with her. "Hey, why are you still…you? I would have thought that you would have changed into Lois or Clark."

"Disappointed?" she asked

"No, grateful."

She raised an eyebrow.

"You know, the real Chloe wasn't even fazed by me giving her the bow. Didn't even ask for an explanation or decide to lecture me. I think that right now, I prefer that to the pity party that Lois and Clark have been giving me. Even if that means that she's given up on me."

She gave him a knowing smile. "I'm pretty sure that she hasn't given up on you."

"Sure seems like it", he said as he took another swig from the bottle. This conversation made him feel more human that he had in a long time, and he sure wasn't going to lose her now.

"So you're locking yourself in here these days?" she asked him

He nodded. "It just feels like Metropolis doesn't have room for me anymore."

"And isolation is going to make it feel roomy? Logic doesn't feel like your strong point these days."

What was her solution? If there was one, he would take it in a heartbeat. "So what should I do?"

"You have to make that decision yourself", she told him. "I'm not going to tell you what to do, because blindly obeying me isn't going to do anything for you."

"Maybe I do have to get out of here", he reasoned.

"Good. Get out of the Clock Tower, and show up to work for a change. It's a good idea."

Maintaining the old status quo wasn't going to do anything. He didn't deserve to run the company, not anymore. He wasn't his father.

"No."

"No?" she repeated in disbelief

"That's not good enough. I burned the suit- I can't go back anymore. I don't think that things can be the same ever again. I need to get out of here, out of Metropolis."

"You remember that little poor logic discussion that we were having about a minute ago? Let's revisit that", she started.

"I'm suffocating here- I need to get out", he said shooting up out of his seat, and trying to grip a nearby table to calm the sudden dizziness.

"No, you need to face what's happened. Not run away from your problems", she said as she quickly slipped back on her heels.

He got in the elevator, and went down to the lobby. He saw that she didn't follow him. He went across the street to a nearby pay phone, and called his pilot. The pilot was a little bitter from being woken up so early, but was willing to have the plane ready in an hour.

Oliver hung up the phone. "Running away isn't the solution." She said, appearing at his side.

He jumped slightly, startled. "I don't have a role here anymore. The Blur's taking care of the city and the company seems to be taken care of. What am I doing here?" he asked her as he walked back into the building, and pressed the up button at the elevators.

"That's not true, there's just as much room for you here."

The doors opened, and he stepped inside. He quickly pressed the close button so that nobody would approach him.

"Everyone's doing just fine without me."

"What about the League? They're still out there."

"They'll manage. They were just fine before you came around."

"You know that's not true. Bart was stealing, AC almost got killed, and Victor almost killed himself. Not to mention the fact that Dinah was working for Lex. They were not just fine."

"They'll figure themselves out."

The elevator doors opened, and he made his way over to his bedroom. After pulling out a small suitcase, he started piling whatever clothes he needed.

"You say that you care about me more than you do the Green Arrow. Then, why aren't you listening to me?"

"Because you're not real!" he shouted. "And my life's been full of ups and downs before you came along. This is just a down right now, and even though I have no idea how I'm going to fix everything, I know that you're the only good thing I have going for me, the only constant. And when things get fixed, you're going to be gone."

She was silenced. Maybe because she realized that what she said earlier was true- blindly obeying her wasn't going to help matters.

He simply zipped up his suitcase and stepped back in the elevator. She quietly followed.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter Six

_In chess, the Queen is the King's most powerful ally._

He flew to Mexico, and was regretting his decision after one day. He didn't know what it was that he ate, but he had been throwing up for the past 6 hours. When did this seem like a good idea?

When his stomach was finally able to hold down some food the next day, he went to a local bar. He didn't gulp down his alcohol today, but that didn't stop him from getting as drunk as his stomach would allow him.

"Why are you still drinking? Do you care about your health at all?" he heard a voice.

He turned around, and smiled to himself. She was back. It was painful to know that one day she wouldn't be there, but she was back.

"I mean honestly", she continued as she sat herself down next to him. "Any more vomiting and you could have ended up in a hospital due to dehydration."

"But I didn't."

"Stop drinking. You have to pace yourself."

He hated detecting the worry in her voice, but at the same time he knew he couldn't give her what she wanted. "I can't."

"You can't stop? Of course you can. Just put down the glass, and walk out of here."

It sounded so easy. Why was everything so easy for her?

"Ollie, please stop this." She was pleading with him now.

He wondered if she could cry. Could hallucinations cry? He hoped not- he had never seen her cry before. He didn't know if he could take it.

The bartender gave him a refill, and walked to the other side of the bar. Oliver held up his glass to her, and drank.

"Why are you doing this?" she asked him

He couldn't explain it, couldn't put it into words even if he tried. What _was_ this feeling? This need for her, this addiction for her presence? He didn't think that he could get drunk off of alcohol anymore- no, these days he was getting drunk from her being around.

Oliver felt himself drawn to her, and it was making him sick. Sex usually defined his relationships, and here he was, drawn to a woman that he could never touch. It was burning him alive.

He raised the glass again.

"Wait a second, are you doing this for me?" she asked softly

He smiled half-heartedly. Even as a hallucination, she was clueless.

"Oliver, I want you to listen to me very closely. You don't want me. I'm not your usual type- I'm not glamorous."

And even as a hallucination, she still believed that she was inferior. Even as a beautiful image in that sparkling gold dress.

He needed to get his mind off of her. He looked around the room. There were plenty of women, but none of them were even a match to her beauty. He got up put a couple of hundreds down on the table.

"Ollie, where are you going?" she asked him as he walked out

He didn't reply. He just walked across the street into another bar.

"Okay, so bar-hopping's your new hobby now? What's here?" she asked

He bumped into a nearby table as he walked. He spotted two women talking as he made his way over to the bar, and flashed them a smile as he walked past them. They weren't pretty, but they were trampy enough to make her jealous. Most of all, he just wanted to forget about his feelings, and there was nothing that did the job better than a good old distraction. Or two.

He knew that the women would get up and walk over to him. They started speaking Spanish to him. He smiled, and put an arm around one of them.

He glanced over at Chloe, who was behind him. She was silent, and there was a shocked look on her face.

"Barkeep, I'm going to need uh", he started as he reached in his back pocket. "Some cold, tall, wet, sexy, uh", he emphasized for extra effect.

He saw Chloe look down at the floor sadly. He hoped that this did just enough damage- that she would hate him to the degree of not having this intoxicating effect on him, but not to the degree of her leaving.

He reached over for some trinket. "Put one of these in it, will you please?"

One of the women motioned for three, and the bartender nodded. He reached in his pocket for some foreign currency. He had no idea where he was going when he packed, so he prepared for everything. "So, I've got dollar bills, I've got pesos, I've got, is that a euro? I've got this purple thing, these are fun."

He heard Chloe sigh to herself in the distance. "You're an idiot, you know that?"

He ignored her. "Why don't you just take the whole thing?" he asked, handing the barkeep a wad of currency. "Have a little vacation on me, how does that sound?"

"Oh boy, here comes trouble", Chloe told him, and he felt a sharp jab on his shoulder.

Some stranger was speaking Spanish, and one of the women was talking back. Ah, so his wife wasn't the most faithful of women. He pretended not to understand the man.

"What are you doing with my wife?" the man asked in English

Oliver stayed where he was, and gulped down his drink.

"Are you crazy? Turn around and tell him that this was all just a mistake", Chloe said desperately.

He sighed. Fine. He turned around, and stared at the man. He didn't apologize. Instead, he started insulting the man's wife in Spanish. The man's friend punched him in the face.

"You deserved that, you know." Chloe told him. He smirked.

Suddenly, there was a gun firing, and he looked straight ahead. It was Tess Mercer. He looked at Chloe.

"Oh, she's real alright", she confirmed. "Look at the effect she's having on the people if you don't believe me."

The group scattered. Okay, so they could see her too. "Really?" Tess asked

Tess put down the gun as he poured himself another drink. The bartender wasn't going to stop him if he wasn't here.

"You know Mercy, if you wanted more face time, all you had to do was ask", he said as he downed the glass in one go. He didn't know what she was doing here, but he knew that Chloe was going to help him deal with her.

"This _is_ me asking", Tess told him. "Now, go into the kitchen and get yourself some ice. I'm not playing nurse this time."

He turned around, headed over to the kitchen.

"What do you think she wants?" Oliver asked Chloe, who was following him.

"Probably for you to pay attention to your company", she said.

"Are there any back door exits?" he asked

"She saved your ass. She wants a favor, and you owe her right now. She'll notice if you don't come back. A back door isn't an option this time, and you know it. Get in there and listen to her."

He grumbled to himself, and stepped outside of the kitchen. He made his way over to Mercy.

"What the hell were you thinking, Oliver?" Tess asked

He kept walking.

"They could have killed you."

"Yeah", he said as he placed the ice over a bruise. That was probably what Tess would have wanted anyway. "Didn't really give them a chance, did you? Now, we'll never know." Why did he have to show her gratitude? He certainly never asked for her help.

He sat back down at the bar. He didn't want to turn around and face her.

"Were you even aware that one of your factories blew up?" she asked

He ignored her, and reached for a nearby beer bottle. He took a gulp. He didn't know that.

"Do you give a damn about anything anymore?" she asked

Great, she was going to give him a pep talk. He would have thought that Tess was different from Lois and Clark. Apparently not. "Please tell me you didn't waste all that jet fuel to come down and deliver me a lecture."

"Your company's failing. Your stock is worth less than you think of yourself right now."

And now, he was letting his deceased family down. He was destroying his father's empire, and he didn't even know about it.

"There's only so much loss that the shareholders are willing to accept." She said

He tapped the bottle with his pointer finger in frustration.

"Oliver, you have to listen to her", Chloe said.

"I'm tired of making excuses", Tess continued.

He turned around. "Then, why don't you stop making excuses? Tell them the truth about me. You'll become the sole CEO; it'll become great for you. It's what you've always wanted, right?"

Chloe sat down next to him. "You know that you don't want to lose this company. It's one of the last things that you have left of your father. You don't really want to lose his legacy."

Tess stepped forward. "I've seen you go off the rails before. But this, this vanishing act. These binges? You're punishing yourself. Why?"

"Tess knows you, Ollie. And most of all, she's real- flesh and blood. Talk to her, tell her what's going on", Chloe started.

Oliver felt Mercy's hand on his shoulder. "See? She's more real than I am. Tell her what happened."

"Oliver, what did you do?" Tess asked

He couldn't tell Tess. It wouldn't be the same as confiding in Chloe. _She _wouldn't be the same as Chloe.

"Whatever it is, I understand. You know that. Talk to me."

"Ollie, this woman travelled all the way from Metropolis to find you. This probably isn't the first place that she looked. Why can't you tell her?" Chloe asked him

He wanted to tell Tess, wanted to get everything off of his chest. But he couldn't. He couldn't trust her. She was up to something, and he knew it.

"Oliver, if you care about me at all, you'll tell her something." Chloe said

He felt tears well in his eyes as she felt the power that Chloe had over him. He shook his head, and rubbed his nose slightly.

He turned around. "It looks like you're the one that needs to do the talking. I guess the real question is what is it that you want from me?"

"Oh, good job Ollie. The woman was genuinely concerned for probably the first time in her life, and you throw it in her face."

He knew that it was mean, but if he just waited for it, the real plan would unfold. There was always a hidden agenda with her.

Tess's mouth curved up in a smile, and he knew that he hit the nail right on the head.

"I need your pretty face", she said coldly. "Addressing our shareholders. Consider this one of the many favors you owe me."

He turned around, trying to hide his smile. The genuine care that Chloe had for him couldn't even compare to Tess' sincerity.

He put his mouth to the bottle, and then retracted it. There might be more to this little deal. "That all you want?"

"I've learned not to expect too much from you, Oliver. Cheer up. You can fall down drunk in a gutter as soon as it's done. Wheels up in twenty."

He heard her walk away.

"I can't believe her", Chloe said between gritted teeth.

"Oh, I can. She's a very good actress. And here I thought you had all of my memories."

Chloe crossed her arms. "Well at least you saw through it all. Looks like your logic is improving."

He beamed. "Is that a compliment? Why Miss Sullivan, I'm flattered."

"Don't be. It's your shareholders that you have to sweet talk."

He sighed, and left the bar. Time to go back to Metropolis.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter Seven

_In chess, check signifies an immediate threat to capture the king. In the following move, the player who has a king in chess must eliminate the threat. _

It was a very long and awkward jet ride back to Metropolis. Tess hadn't said a word to him since she left the bar. Chloe sat down right next to Oliver at takeoff. In time all that was beautiful and good in that jet was silenced, and every speck of gold disappeared.

He let out a long sigh. He knew that realistically, this wouldn't be very hard. He delivered speech after speech to the shareholders when he was more emotionally invested in the company.

It wasn't a hard task since Mercy probably had a speech written out for him. He wasn't mad about that- it wasn't like he would know what to say right now anyway. A factory exploded and he didn't even care. The only thing that he did care about was the fact that Chloe wasn't going to be with him as he made the speech. He let out a sigh. Sobriety sucks.

He needed her right now. He needed her as he sat quietly in the plane. He needed her as he put on his suit, and fixed his tie in the mirror. And he needed her right now, as Tess opened the door, a fake smile plastered on her face. "It's time, Oliver", was all she said.

He walked out of the room, and suddenly had a bad feeling about all of this, as if Mercy was planning something bigger than he could see right now.

He wished that he had sneaked in some alcohol so that Chloe could reassure him. He needed every eye-roll, chuckle and smile. But he couldn't have that right now. Tonight, he was alone.

He heard Mercy speak. "Ladies and gentlemen, your fearless leader Oliver Queen."

She stepped down from the podium. Fearless leader. Those were two things that he hadn't been in a long time. And now he had to play the part.

He walked up the stairs, and felt the spotlight shining on him as Mercy walked past him.

"Thank you." He cleared his throat. "Thank you everyone. I know that it's been a trying year for all of you, and hopefully I can stay upright long enough to say what…"

He hesitated as he read the rest of the speech's paragraph. "Needs to be said", he finished with a slight chuckle.

What was Mercy playing at? "Obviously whoever wrote this speech has a pretty good sense of humor", he covered up. The shareholders laughed a little with him. What was going on?

He looked down at the podium to read the rest of the paragraph so that he could alter it accordingly. Suddenly, the speech was erased, and a new set of words were formed. Use the earpiece, it said.

The words continued to flash. This wasn't routine for a speech- was there something wrong with the machine?

"Excuse me", he started as he reached over for the earpiece. "Sorry, technical difficulties."

He put on the earpiece, and winced as a screeching noise echoed throughout the room.

"Oh yes, Mr. Queen. It's your old playmate, Winslow Schott", he heard through the earpiece. Toyman. What did he want?

"I'm sure you remember", Toyman continued. "You framed me for murder after all."

Oliver froze. Could anyone else hear this?

"And now that I've finally won your little game of hide and seek, I thought we'd play something that I'm a little more comfortable with", he said.

Damn it, Tess. This is why she wanted him here. Bring him out of hiding. He should have stayed in Mexico. Crappy food and people with a bad sense of humor, but at least he was safe.

"Toyman says, read everything I've written or you will die."

This guy was crazy. And he was still addressing himself in the third person. Okay, well what did he write?

Oliver looked out into the crowd. Toyman was here somewhere, he had to be. How else could he screw around with the speech?

"Toyman says, don't try to run, don't take a step. If you move one muscle, I will kill every person in this room. Toyman says you're standing on a pressure plate."

Oliver discreetly looked down at his feet. "Toyman says you're standing on a BOMB!"

He heard Toyman laugh maniacally. What was he going to do now? If he moved, everyone would be dead. He would be responsible for the death of innocent people.

The flashing words were replaced by a moving paragraph. Okay, here was the speech.

"I've never worked a day in my life", Oliver started, "too busy gagging on the silver spoon wedged down my throat."

Okay, so this was a self-degrading speech. Difficult to choke out, but he could do it. Granted, the shareholders would hate him forever, and he would probably never be the acting CEO of Queen Industries again. He remembered back in Mexico when he told Mercy that all she wanted was to be sole CEO. He was right all along.

"And even when I was given a second chance at life, I was unable to see past my selfish nature."

He thought of Clark, and how he shot him with a Kryptonite arrow so that Doomsday could be killed. That was supposed to be for the greater good; at least he always thought that it was. Was it for a selfish cause? Was he actually jealous of the fact that Clark called select members of the team without consulting him first?

"Don't stop there, Mr. Queen", Toyman said. "We haven't even reached the good part yet."

Great, there was more? He could feel the sweat dripping off of his forehead. It was more than just the spotlight. He tried to keep himself as composed as possible.

"Time and again, I've put my own needs over the needs of my devoted employees. In fact, the only thing that I've been selfless enough to part with is the blame for a heinous act."

"My name is Oliver Queen. And I am a coward." He thought about how he ran away after Jimmy's funeral. How he drank himself silly day after day. "I am a thief." He thought about how he had selfishly used his father's money in order to escape.

"And I am…" he stopped as he saw the last phrase. Murderer, don't forget you're standing on a bomb, it wrote.

He kept reading the word murderer. True, yet so harsh when put on a screen.

"Too ashamed to admit that you were really responsible for killing Lex Luthor?" Toyman asked "YOU DIDN'T THINK TWICE BEFORE BLAMING ME FOR IT!"

Oliver was still silent. Toyman was right. The real Chloe was right a year ago as well. What he did was murder, and he shouldn't have made Toyman responsible for something that he had done himself.

"I", he started. He couldn't do it. This would mean the end of Oliver Queen- a trial wouldn't prevent him from going to jail. There was nobody left to defend him. If he finished this sentence, he couldn't go back.

His clammy hands grasped the podium tightly. What was he going to do? 

"Confess!" Toyman exclaimed in his ear

He swallowed, and shook his head once. He was too proud to sign his own jail sentence.

Suddenly, a blaring noise sounded. "Emergency alarm activated. Please move in an orderly fashion to the safest exit", a voice said.

Everyone started moving out of the room. Everyone except for him. Oliver was still rooted in his spot on the pressure plate. He couldn't move.

A part of him wished that Chloe was here to help guide him, but another part of him knew what he was going to do all along.

He had lost almost every element of being a Queen. His parents were giving people. His mother loved every person that she met until her dying day. His father was the founder of Queen Industries- every employee respected him, because no matter what the circumstances were, Robert Queen always did the right thing.

He remembered the letter that he found on the island before he left. It was the letter that his mother had written just before she died in the plane crash.

"Know that putting others ahead of yourself will bring you all the peace you will ever need." She wrote

This part of being a Queen, this part he would keep.

It would harm more people than it would help if the truth was revealed. And there was only other option.

He waited until the last person left the room. He took a deep breath, and stepped back as he waited for the flames to engulf him, for death to finally claim him.

It never came.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter Eight

_In chess, most players resign after they lose their Queen._

The pressure plate ended up being a fake. Clark sped in, deactivated the real bomb, and promised Oliver that he would pay more attention to him after watching him step off of the platform.

Oliver just nodded his head and waited for Clark to speed off. When he was finally alone, he walked out of the building. He was tired of Clark and his fake promises. Right now, Oliver needed to get to the Clock Tower.

He knew that every person who came here tonight was going to receive a bottle of champagne at their homes in order to lift their spirits regardless of the night's events. The second that bottle was emptied, he would be home, and that was all he needed. To be where his heart was.

He didn't bother with the limo, or for stopping by somewhere for food even though his stomach was rumbling. He casually walked back to the Clock Tower, taking every shortcut that he knew. He felt strangely confident- more like a man who had cheated death than one who was willing to welcome it with open arms.

It was when he was in close proximity to the building when he started feeling anxious. He didn't engage in small talk with the doorman, but gave him a curt nod before heading straight to the elevator.

When he reached the penthouse, he almost ran over to the table where the champagne was sitting. He opened the bottle and started gulping it down immediately.

He drank as he kicked off his shoes, and continued to drink as he walked over to the couch and sat down. He drank desperately until he saw her appear before his eyes, and still couldn't stop.

"Whoa, calm down there", she said to him.

He put down the bottle and set it down on the floor.

"Good. Now, do you want to explain what happened tonight?" she asked

Seeing him in front of him made him suddenly realize what he had done tonight. "I tried to kill myself", he said slowly as if he wasn't there while it was happening. "Oh my god, I tried to kill myself!" he exclaimed in astonishment

She sat down. "You stepped off of a pressure plate that didn't have a bomb underneath it. It looked like you had your hands glued to the podium and you were set free. Nobody needs to know."

"Maybe, but that's not what happened- Toyman made me believe that there was a bomb underneath the plate", he explained

"You were in a high stress situation, Ollie. You didn't know what you were doing", she reasoned.

But that wasn't true. He knew exactly what was happening. He had a choice: confess or die with a room full of people. He made a decision. It may have been a high stress situation, but he made a choice.

"No, Chloe. I meant to kill myself tonight", he said softly.

She got up from her seat and walked over to him. She kneeled down at his feet. "Are you trying to tell me that you believe you have nothing left to live for?"

There's you. "Nothing real", he answered.

"So you're giving up?" she asked

He grabbed the bottle again. "Maybe I am", he said before finishing off the bottle.

"So you don't think that it's damn lucky that the fire alarms went off so that the shareholders could leave the building? Or that Clark was on the scene?"

He frowned. He was curious about the fire alarm. He assumed that Clark was trying to cover the event for the Daily Planet. But those alarms were pretty convenient.

Maybe she knew something. "Do you know how the alarms went off?" he asked her

She stood up and walked around the back of the couch to the windows. She stared out the window for a moment, and took a deep breath as she turned around.

"I'll let you figure it out. The fire alarms are computer programmed throughout the entire building with heat sensors, right?"

"Right", he confirmed.

"And the only way to make the alarms go off without a fire present is to jam the heat sensors so that they go off by default in case there really is a fire", she continued as she walked through the room.

"So someone with handy computer skills must have hacked into the system within five minutes in order for the alarm to sound on time" he finished for her.

"Exactly", she said smiling.

"And since Clark's not very handy with a computer, it could have been either Victor or the real Chloe."

Why was she suddenly looking at him…disappointed?

"Like I said, I'll let you figure out who it was. The point is that whoever set off those alarms probably thought that you were worth the trouble."

"Well, I don't feel like I'm worth the trouble", he admitted.

She crossed her arms. "Your mystery savior was there, regardless of whether you felt like being saved or not. And you know that you don't want to die, otherwise we wouldn't be having this conversation."

"So what, you think that I should have told the truth about Lex?

She shook her head. "I don't know whether you should have or not. All I know is that if you did decide to tell the truth, there's a time and place for that. A black tie shareholder's meeting with Tess Mercer in the room is not one of them." She sat back down

He nodded his head as he stared at the floor. There was a silence between them.

"Do you think that time erases everything?" he asked

She thought for a moment. "I think that time…helps." She finally said

"But it doesn't fix things completely."

"No", she decided. "Lex Luthor wasn't a saint, Ollie. You know that. He was responsible for so many deaths, and he destroyed the innocence of countless people."

"He was still human. Do you think that he could have changed his ways?"

She shrugged her shoulders. "I'm biased. What do you want me to say? That there was hope for him? I can't do that."

Still, Oliver knew that it wasn't his choice to see whether people lived or died. And that was exactly what he did. He may have been right about Lex, but that didn't make it right.

As self-righteous as Clark was, Oliver couldn't forget his words: You're not one of us anymore.

Right. He hadn't been right in a while. "Is there hope for me?"

She gave him a questioning look. "What are you talking about?"

"I don't know." He let out a sigh. "It's just that there haven't been any rights in my life in a while. Wins. The death of my parents, being stranded on that island, killing Lex, being responsible for Jimmy's death, and now my company- I haven't won something in a while. I just keep running from the bad things and hoping that time will erase it all. And you're right- time only helps. It doesn't cure."

"Maybe you just need a small victory."

"Like what?" he asked

He looked over at her when he saw that she was fading away.

"No", he whispered.

He picked up the bottle of champagne, and put his mouth over it. There was only a single drop of alcohol. It wasn't enough to keep her here.

"No, not now."

He lifted the bottle again, and sucked out of the bottle. The only thing that was filling his mouth was air. He looked at her. She was fading fast.

"No, don't go!" he exclaimed

He ran over to his fridge, and opened it. With the exception of a little bit of pizza, it was empty.

He slammed the door shut and turned around. "Please stay here", he begged. She was almost completely gone. There was only a trace of gold left where she was.

He watched helplessly as she vanished.

"Damn it!"

He threw the empty bottle of champagne across the room, and heard the clatter as the bottle broke into a million pieces. He slid down a wall and curled up.

There would be no small victories tonight.


	9. Chapter 9

A/N: One more chapter and this is finished. And no, there will be no sequel.

Chapter Nine

_In chess, one of the best strategies is to create a Queen's fork, which pins both the King and the Queen at the same time. _

Oliver Queen woke up the next evening curled up against a wall. He fell asleep in the same position from the previous night. He didn't dream, not anymore. Maybe dreams had to be earned; maybe those were the small victories that he had to earn.

He didn't eat anything last night, so he walked over to his fridge and pulled out some old pizza. Small victories- Chloe said that maybe he needed to find a small victory to get a foot in the right direction. What would a small victory be?

His eyes wandered around the penthouse until he spotted a small white and red card on one of the tables. He hadn't seen that before, where had it come from? He walked over to it and picked it up.

Roulette, he read. He turned it over. It was a newly opened casino in the city, and it was opening tonight. He checked the date- it was his birthday, and he didn't even realize it. He had an odd birthday tradition with Lois, usually a night of drinking and talking about good times. It was her way of making sure that they could stay friends after everything.

Everything was different now. If he shared a 6 pack of beer with Lois, he would see Chloe and Lois would think that he was crazy. Lois hadn't been there for him recently, not the way that Chloe had been.

This Roulette place was a casino. Maybe gambling there would bring the type of small victory that Chloe was talking about, and since it was his birthday maybe he would have a little bit of luck. He smiled to himself- the place was bound to have alcohol. He would see her again. He hopped in the shower, and got ready.

After getting to the bank and withdrawing a large sum of money, he drove to the casino and sat down at the Roulette table. He exchanged his money for some chips, and started to play.

Game after game passed, and the once large pile of chips in front of him were almost completely depleted. He drank a shot and threw in some more chips. When he lost again, he simply repeated the process.

"You know, when I said that you needed a small victory, this wasn't exactly what I had in mind", she said.

He chuckled. "You should learn to be more specific."

She turned sideways to face him. "This is going to end badly, you know. Especially since you're running out of money."

"I'm not going to lose."

But, she was right. In time, the chips ran out and the man working at the table told him what the table minimum was. The man was hoping that he would leave, but Oliver was still looking for some sort of victory.

He reached in his pocket, pulled out his car keys. He would rather play big than not at all, and he wasn't going to leave until he won something. He needed to win at something.

The man at the table took the car keys, and shook his head.

"Oliver, why are you doing this?" she asked

He ignored her, and just stared at the table. The game resumed, and he lost his car.

"How are you going to get back? You have no money and no car. The Clock Tower is on the other side of town."

He looked down in shame, and reached for his glass of scotch, sipping it. When he finished his drink, he got up from the table and headed over to the open bar. He flashed the bartender his invitation, and the bartender poured him a glass of whiskey.

Oliver reached for the glass and gulped it down.

"Now, that's the face of a guy who's down on his luck", a voice said.

He glanced over his back. It was a woman in red silk. He looked over at Chloe. "Yeah, she's real. A little strangely dressed in that kimono, but she's real."

He stood up to face the woman. He sized her up. Maybe Chloe would stop judging him if she was a little jealous. It worked in Mexico, at any rate.

"Well, I think that my luck's about to turn around", he told the woman. "I don't remember seeing you earlier."

He heard Chloe sigh to herself. "Will you ever change?" she asked

"Oh, maybe not", the woman said. "But I've seen you before. Your type."

"Are you kidding me? She's falling for that?" Chloe asked, scoffing

Oliver smiled at the woman. Looks like Chloe was easy to distract tonight. "And what type is that, exactly?"

"The player who can't find a game to satisfy him."

Maybe this woman understood him somehow. And she was real. Was this the small victory that he was looking for? "I'll admit that I've lost a lust for life."

He smiled at her. "But not other things."

"You're a pig", Chloe said bluntly.

The woman walked up close to him. "Let's play a game", she whispered seductively in his ear.

"And she's no better", Chloe added.

"I'm all in", he told the woman.

The woman took out three small cups and after hiding something in one of them, moved the cups around.

"Well, it's not exactly the kind of game I had in mind", he said as he took a sip from his drink.

"Hey, if you want to go and have sex with her, the least you could do is stop drinking so I don't have to watch this", Chloe told him.

He smirked and took a larger sip just to spite her.

"You can only choose one." The woman said

Oliver set his drink down. He gave her a look. Was she serious?

The woman smiled at him. He decided to humor her, and pointed at a random cup.

The woman lifted it up and revealed a large red pill. She picked up the pill, and looked at him. He was meant to take it.

"Oliver, you're better than this. You don't have to take it." Chloe told him

"What, you're not joining me?" he asked the woman in red "Trips are more fun when they're for two."

The woman held the pill out for him. "This is just for you."

He was a little hesitant. What was she playing at here?

"I promise, it'll be worth it", she said. "Of course, you do have a choice. But what do you have to lose?"

"Did you listen to that? You have a choice. Just walk out of here right now and everything will be fine." Chloe said

He looked at the pill. The truth was that he had nothing to lose. Not anymore. The truth was that he was here with some random stranger on his birthday. He had no friends, no family, and no reason for life. Even death was refused to him.

"Absolutely nothing", he whispered

He took the pill from her fingers, put it in his mouth, and drained it down with some whisky.

The woman slowly stepped away from the table and he followed her. She grabbed his arm, and pulled him away from the scene.

That was when the effects of the drug started to kick in. The only thing that he could see was the woman's dragon tattoo. He followed it out of the casino's back door.

He turned around to look for Chloe. She was fading away, almost gone completely. He was fairly drunk by now, and just took a sip of alcohol.

"What's going on?" he croaked

"You really shouldn't mix drugs with alcohol, Ollie." She said before disappearing.

He reached his hand out to her, but she was already gone. He walked forward a little bit, trying to build up his own confidence. He didn't need her. He could get through this himself. Where was that woman in the red? Where did she go?

He stumbled around, before falling to his knees due to the dizziness. He could have sworn that he saw the image of a dragon tattoo on the ground before everything became black.

Oliver woke up in darkness. He tried to sit up, but couldn't. Somehow, his clothes had been changed from black on black to a white tux. This chick was out of her mind.

Where was he? It was hot, and it was some sort of airtight container. If he didn't get out of here fast, he was going to lose oxygen. Don't breathe heavily, calm down. Stay calm.

He reached into the inside pocket, and found a small flashlight. He clicked it on, and looked around. There was some sort of lock. He reached inside of another pocket and found a lock-pick. Okay, so she was a bit crazy, but not a crazy murderer. He put the flashlight in his mouth, and pointed it at the lock while fiddling with the lock-pick.

When the lock finally broke free, took the flashlight out of his mouth, and opened the door. He took a deep breath of air, and took a look at his surroundings. He was shut inside of a coffin.

He got up, and stepped out of the coffin. He had no idea where on earth he was.

"That's the last time I trust a woman with a dragon tattoo." He said out loud to nobody in particular. It was silly to think that she could have helped him more than Chloe could.

He heard a knocking noise, and turned around. He shone his light in the direction of the knocking. He heard some screaming. There was another coffin nearby, and there was another live person inside of it.

He walked over to the coffin slowly, and saw that it was very dusty. He wiped the dust off of the name plate. It read, Alexander Luthor.

"Lex"

He had to save him. If Lex was really alive and he saved him, then Oliver did nothing wrong. He wouldn't be a murderer if Lex was still alive.

Feeling pure energy for the first time in months, he set down the flashlight, and felt around the coffin. There had to be some way to open it. He grabbed a nearby screwdriver, and hit the lock repeatedly with it until the lock broke off. He used all of his strength to open the heavy coffin.

There was no body. Instead, there were two speakers, and a laugh echoed throughout the room. Someone knew the truth- this was Toyman's doing somehow.

Other than the team, nobody else knew about what happened. Toyman was getting revenge because Oliver ended up living without a confession. It wasn't his voice, but it could easily have been programmed.

"Oh, you've got to be kidding me", he breathed.

He picked up the flashlight and shone it around the room. Toyman was here, somewhere.

"Hell of a game you're playing, Winslow!" he shouted

He walked around the coffin. "The Toyman wants to play, you're going to have to come out here and face me like a man", he challenged.

"Winslow Schott isn't responsible, Mr. Queen." The voice echoed. "Care to guess again?"

"Enough", Oliver said. "This ends now!"

"If that is what you want, just say the safe word and the game will stop", the voice said.

The safe word? What the hell was the safe word? "What are you talking about? I didn't get a safe word!"

"Because you didn't ask", the voice responded. "If you don't care enough to learn the rules, you can't complain about the game continuing."

Rules? What rules? What kind of game was this? If this wasn't Toyman, then who else knew about Lex? "Who is this?" he asked

"I'll give you a hint. Tell me, Mr. Queen. Who did you destroy?"

"Destroy", he muttered. He shook his head. This couldn't be Lex, there was no way. This wasn't Lex's style. Could this have been Jimmy? Davis? "I've ruined a lot of lives", he said.

There was a strange rattling noise. He turned around.

"I better keep this simple", the voice went on as Oliver walked towards the window. "Here's a yes or no question: are you ready for a big shock?"

Suddenly, the window broke and he ducked for cover. There was a massive dog barking at him. There was no way that the dog broke the window like that. But like it or not, it gave him a way out. He stepped over the broken glass, and ran out of the warehouse as it chased him.

He spotted a car nearby, and ran to it. He hopped over the car to the driver's side, and opened the door. He stepped in, and closed the door behind him. The dog was jumping up towards the door and clawing at it.

It backed off, and Oliver heard a honking noise. He turned to look through the window. There as a truck headed towards him fast. He tried to jerk the door open so that he could run away, but it was stuck. It was no use. The truck was coming fast. He turned his back as he braced for impact.

He woke up, and felt muddy water clinging to his face. How on earth did he survive the crash? He stood up, and looked around him. The car was smoking, and the door was smashed in. He didn't open the door to escape, but somehow he was outside of the car. A little beaten up, but safe. Did Chloe save him somehow?

He looked around. He had no idea where he was, but he spotted a payphone nearby. He stumbled over to it, and lifted the phone from the receiver. He knew Chloe's number by heart. He needed her, and she always came through.

The phone dialed, and suddenly picked up. "Chloe, it's Oliver. I really need your help" he said quickly.

There as a female voice responding, but it wasn't Chloe's. "We're sorry, but your call cannot be completed as dialed."

"Oh come on!" he cried out

"You come on, Mr. Queen. Did you really think that it would be that easy", the voice said.

"Who the hell is this?" he asked

The line was disconnected. He hit the phone on the receiver again and again in frustration before he finally stopped. Okay, knowing about Lex was one thing, but Chloe? How could anybody know about her? What was going on here?

He looked at his wrist. There was a stamped tattoo there- it was the stamp of the casino, with a dragon tattoo and the word Roulette. It was that woman. He needed to find her.

After stumbling into some dead ends, he finally found the casino. He opened the doors, and scanned the room until he found her.

"Just the woman I'm looking for", he said when he spotted her at the bar.

She put down a wine glass and turned to face him. She walked over to him. "I know exactly how you feel", she said smiling as she kissed him square on the lips.

What was she doing?

"Don't make a scene", she whispered. "The people who set the game in motion are here. If they realize you're here, they'll kill you."

He looked around. Everyone seemed to be innocent casino visitors- there was nobody that he recognized, anyway.

"And why should I trust you?" he asked

"Trust your instincts. Right now, they're all you have." She whispered

Suddenly, she kicked him, and a man behind him pushed him across the room. She walked over to him and punched him in the face. The man started to fight him, but Oliver saw him coming and started to fight back.

When the man was finally on the ground, the woman in red held out her hand. "All in?" she asked quickly

He took her hand, and she led him out of the casino. They started running when they got outside.

He had no idea why he trusted her right now. He didn't know a thing about her, except for the fact that she started this twisted game by giving him a pill. Why was he following her? Where else was she going to take him?

"Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait", he said stopping her mid run. "I don't even know your name."

"It's Victoria. We don't have time for this!" she said as she started to run away again

"We're going to make time, Victoria", he said stopping her again. "Now you're going to tell me, who's behind the game?"

"I work for some nasty guys, they don't exactly have an HR department. It's my job to mark their targets out. If you hadn't taken that pill, they would have killed me!" she cried out desperately

She needed to be saved. He could do this, he could save her. "I'm going to help you out of this, okay? Look at me. In order to do that, I need to know what these people want with me, you understand?"

"I wish I knew. People hire them. They never tell me the client's identity or endgame. So I guess you're the only one that can answer that question. Who did you hurt so badly that they'd want to see you dead?"

Lex and Toyman. Lex was dead, so it had to be Toyman. But the voice said to guess again. This wasn't making any sense at all.

He thought about the League. That was an entire group of people that knew everything about him. They were brought together to do some real good, but he ended up leaving them all behind. Banded together against them, and there would be enough hatred to kill him. They were good people and probably wouldn't. But what if they did?

"Pick a name", he said. "Personal wars have left a serious casualty list. I guess I always figured that it was easier to hurt the people I cared about. I would stick around knowing that eventually I'd end up just disappointing them anyway."

Suddenly, the glass nearby shattered. Someone was shooting at them. "Go", he said as they started running again.

Car windows, nearby buildings, the glass in all of them was being shattered. They ran on the sidewalk so that they could be protected by the nearby cars. Eventually, they had to cross the street exposed.

They ran, but he felt Victoria's hand slip away from him. He turned around. She was shot, and was falling to the floor. He ran behind her, and caught her as she fell. 

"Come on", he said as he fell down with her. "Victoria, listen to me okay? Look at me, look at me."

"Let me go", she said as she gasped for breath. "This is the only way I'll be free."

"Hey, listen to me. You've got to fight, okay? Hang on, okay? Look at me."

The life vanished from her eyes as a nearby car sped over behind them. It didn't matter, though. Victoria was dead.

Two cops exited the car, and pointed their guns at him. "Hands up!"

This couldn't be happening. "No, wait a minute", he said as he got up from the body, putting his hands up. "Hey, you've got the wrong guy, okay?"

"Get up, now!" the cop shouted

"LISTEN TO ME!" he shouted "YOU'VE GOT THE WRONG GUY!"

The cop shot from his stun gun, and Oliver felt the electricity flow through his body as he fell to the ground.

Oliver woke up in a dark room. What was with the waking up somewhere completely estranged? He looked around. He was in some sort of chair, and it looked like he was handcuffed to it. He remembered what happened before- someone shot Victoria, and he had been found by the police over her body. They thought it was him. Great, just great.

There was a man in the room. "Nice to see that you're up. Maybe you can tell me what your name is."

"My name is Oliver Queen."

"The billionaire CEO of Queen Industries? Do you have any proof of that?" the man asked him

"Haven't you been reading the newspapers? Or do you follow the tabloids?" Oliver asked "My picture is there sometimes."

"I don't follow the tabloids", the man said.

"Well, I'm pretty recognizable by face. The real question is, who are you?"

"My identity isn't the one being questioned here. You were seen standing over a dead woman's body. That's a murder charge. Sure you don't want to be more cooperative?"

Cooperative. Right. "We were being shot at, and the woman Victoria was shot as we were crossing the street. I was trying to help her."

"Did anybody see you try to help her?"

"Nobody that I know of. The streets were empty. Here's a great idea: why don't you let me go so that I can track down the real killer? I'm sure you can get a good confession out of him."

"Let me get this straight. You have no id, no witnesses, and no alibi. Why should I let a murderer walk free?" the man asked

Oliver struggled against the handcuffs. "The people she works for- they came after us, okay? They shot her."

The door suddenly opened, and another man walked in. "Gentlemen, this case officially just became FBI jurisdiction. Don't let me keep you", he said to the man in the process of interrogation.

Eventually the two of them were alone. The man placed his shoes on the table. Oliver didn't even realize that he wasn't wearing shoes. At least they were thorough when they brought him in.

"Thought you could use those", the man said.

"Thanks."

"I apologize for the way you've been treated, Mr. Queen", he said as he began to unlock the handcuffs.

Wait, this guy believed him? He recognized him? "You know who I am?"

The man nodded. "And we know about the game."

What? The FBI knows about this? How did they know about it? How much did they know?

The man walked over to the other side of the table after taking the unlocked handcuffs. "We've been tracking this group for some time. Their MO is to target wealthy individuals and eventually hack their bank accounts."

Oliver put the shoes on the floor and put one foot inside. "Really?" This didn't seem like something as simple as getting his money. Whoever was behind this knew about Lex, knew about Chloe. Maybe they didn't actually know.

"I never thought I'd be happy that they didn't want me, just my money", he said, thinking of the various women that he had been with who had just wanted his inheritance.

"That's how they seem to get their kicks. They toy with you, keeping you distracted while they wipe you out. I suggest that you check your accounts immediately", the man said as he turned a laptop towards him.

Oliver flipped open the laptop as the man turned around. He pulled up his bank page and inserted the necessary security information. He checked the big number first. He still had 3 billion dollars to his name. Then, he checked the rest. Not a single penny had gone missing.

"Nothing's been touched. It's all here."

"Well, you're lucky", the man said.

Oliver looked up at him. Luck was something that he hadn't had in a long time. Especially recently- he lost money gambling, even his car. He had been stuck in a coffin, been hit with a truck, and was shot at. And he lost the one source of information that he had. He may have still had his life intact, but he didn't feel lucky.

"I need you to fill out some paperwork, and then you can go home."

He stood up before the man left. "Thank you."

The man nodded before leaving and shutting the door behind him.

Suddenly, the screen started flashing. 2 billion, 1 billion, his money was leaving right before his eyes. His father's money, the company's money.

He started typing in information so that he could freeze his accounts, but nothing worked. He watched as his money disappeared right before his eyes, and a warning popped up signaling that all of his funds had been removed.

"Hey, they're taking everything!" he shouted out so that the man would come back inside

He ran over to the door, and tried to force it open. It was locked, and wouldn't budge. "Hey! They're draining my accounts, you hear me? Come on!" he shouted as he punched the door

Some sort of gas was suddenly being released from the ceiling. He had to get out of there. "Hey! Let me out of here! Come on!"

Suddenly the door blew open, and Oliver was blown to the ground. He got up and started coughing. Clark was right in front of him. God, was he glad to see him.

"I found the invitation to Roulette; it's only a few blocks away. I could hear you yelling", he explained. "What is all this?" Clark asked

Oliver looked around him. He was in the warehouse again. How could he not see that before?

"It's game over. I just got taken", he said to himself.

"Oliver, listen to me, we'll get you back to the Watchtower. Chloe can help track down whoever is after you."

Oliver nodded. Chloe. If anyone could figure this all out, it was her. Clark grabbed his shoulder, and sped over there. Clark opened the double doors. Oliver walked inside.

She was real, but she looked almost the same as the hallucination as she typed. She turned around. "Oliver, oh my god. Are you okay?"

He wanted to say that she saw him leave the casino, and that she knew what had probably happened since she knew his memories when he stopped himself. She was real. She didn't know the truth, and she didn't know that he was having hallucinations about her.

"South of there by a few horror movies", he said as he sat down on a nearby couch.

"Someone's been using Oliver as a pawn in their game", Clark explained. "We need to figure out who."

"Just tell me where to start", Chloe told him.

"The name of the club is Roulette", Clark said handing her the invitation. "He met a woman there named Victoria."

She turned around and started typing. Oliver hoped that she would find something worthwhile- the supposed FBI agent didn't help any. In fact, he was all a part of the plan.

"At the risk of taking a belly-flop into an awkward pool, what kind of game puts people through hell?"

Awkward. Yeah, the hallucination of her thought that the situation was awkward too as she watched him hit on Victoria. But this wasn't about Chloe. Or Victoria for that matter.

"The kind that starts with being buried alive and ends with bankruptcy", he said bitterly. He couldn't believe that he was broke right now. He didn't want to think of alternatives for living- he just wanted to get everything back.

The computer beeped suddenly. "That was quick", he said as he got up from the couch.

"It looks like the two clues are one and the same. Meet Victoria Sinclair, aka Roulette. Seems as though she's made a career out of betting for high stakes. IE, everything you have." Chloe explained

Victoria played him. She acted as the innocent woman who was just caught in the middle of a dangerous game when it had been her all along. She didn't have any bosses, it was just her.

He was angry that he ever trusted her to begin with. He should have killed her before she had a chance to explain herself. And that was exactly what he was going to do now.

"Chloe, get my gear."

"Oliver, when you turned your back on us, I locked up your arsenal, hoping that one day you would want it back. But not like this."

Why? Because she knew that he would kill again? Victoria destroyed his life. He had nothing anymore. This was different from Lex or Davis. Victoria was asking for it. She was the villain here, not him.

"This is my fight Chloe, I'll handle it how I see fit."

"Where did that line lead you last night?" Clark asked

Of course Clark would be all high and mighty about this. He still didn't know how to handle things.

"Look, I got into this mess on my own, I'll get out the same way. With my lawyers. Okay, Scout?" he used the old nickname as he walked out of the Watchtower, bumping his shoulder into Clark's as he passed him.

He heard Chloe speaking as he walked. Probably trying to prevent Clark from coming after him. Good.

He made his way over to the Clock Tower by foot and took the elevator up to the penthouse. When he finally made it, he walked over to his desk and opened up a drawer, where he kept a loaded gun. It was time to end this. Lawyers were helpless at this stage.

He made it back to the casino, and took it out of his pocket. He held it out as he walked inside.

He saw a woman sitting at the bar in red. Victoria. He cocked the gun. He aimed it at her back, and wanted so badly to fire it. To end it right now. But he couldn't.

She wasn't an alien, or a guard at a 33.1 facility that he had to tranquilize on the scene. She was just a human. And no matter what she did to him, she wasn't worse than Lex, and even killing him gave Oliver the guilt of murdering a man. He had no right to dictate who lived and who died. He knew that now.

He put down the gun. "I guess your luck hasn't run out", he told the woman.

Victoria hadn't even turned around to acknowledge his presence. He walked over to her cautiously. She turned around, and he discovered that it was Lois Lane, bound and gagged.

"Lois?" He almost killed her

He heard a gun load behind him. "I'm disappointed, Oliver." Victoria said

He turned around. "You lack the killer instinct after all", she said. She was dressed in all black and was carrying a gun of her own. "Toss the gun."

He did so. "You know, true gamesmen? They don't cheat by stacking the deck."

"Well you know everything was aces until your girlfriend showed up."

She's not my girlfriend. Not anymore.

"As always, I had to play the hand that I was dealt." She went on

"You just let her go." Lois had no part in any of this. He hadn't spoken to her in months. Her cousin, yes.

"You didn't play by my rules, why should I play by yours? You were supposed to shoot her."

He was supposed to shoot her? But Roulette could have easily done it instead. "See, that's what I don't understand. You could have killed her yourself. You could have killed me when I walked through the door. Why set the scene?"

"You can tie up loose ends with a simple square notch. Or you can choose a more elegant cloverleaf. It's all a matter of style."

She could say whatever she wanted to, but it would have been more efficient to do the job herself. "Oh, and I'd say that I'm sorry for taking your money. Except in your case it hardly matters. You can't take it with you."

He started running. She shot in his trail, and missed as he ducked behind a table.

"So how do I know this isn't just part of your game?" he call out as glass shattered behind him

There was no reply. Instead, there was silence as she loaded her gun again. "Right", he said as he crawled on the floor. He spotted the gun that he dropped to the floor, and rolled to pick it up. He aimed it at Roulette, who had a gun to Lois' head.

"Shoot her." Roulette said simply

"She knows I won't. Not if there's a chance I'd hit you."

There was something in the air. He sniffed it.

"Gasoline", she confirmed. "I Thought I'd torch the place when we're done."

This was her elegant style. "Clover knot."

"No. I just like playing with fire." She held out a lighter, opened it, and then closed it again. "Never bet against the house."

She threw Lois on the floor and started running.

"Lois." He ran over to check on her when he heard an explosion. He removed the cloth in her mouth when he heard Roulette screaming. "Help! Help me!"

He didn't have much time to save Victoria, and Lois seemed fine. "Oh, hell." He couldn't believe he was going to save the woman who was just shooting at him.

He ran over to the room where fire was quickly spreading, and saw Roulette trapped underneath debris. He made a path over to her.

"Hey, look at me. It's going to be okay. I'm going to get you out of here."

He started to lift the material on top of her. It was too heavy.

"Why did you come? You could have left me here!" Victoria asked

He ignored her, and tried lifting it up again. "After everything I put you through, nobody would blame you." She told him

True. But it mattered to him. "I'd blame myself. Listen, I don't care what you did or who you are, I'm going to get you the hell out of here, alright? I'm not going to let you die. Come on!"

He started struggling with the material when suddenly, Victoria easily got herself out.

He watched in confusion as the fires started going out in every direction. What was going on?

"What the hell is this?" he asked her

"You kept asking me who did this to you. My question was always the answer. Who did you destroy?" she asked

A spotlight shone on him. The doors flipped around into a wall of mirrors.

"I hear you're some sort of hero. One that tried to bury that part of himself. You've just proven that that hero is still alive, Oliver. Now it's time to resurrect him."

She walked out through the doors and left him alone. He went back out through the front, and found his car keys. This entire thing was some sort of test.

He found his car and started driving. Even though he didn't have to worry about lawyers, he felt the need to know what his company was going through. He needed to be there. If the hero was still alive, then so was the Queen inside of him. He was fit to take over his father's company- he always had been.

He stepped into the elevator of the Clock Tower, as he started playing back Roulette's words. I hear that you're some sort of hero. Someone hired her, alright. Someone who cared about him. He just wished that he knew who it was. So that he could thank them for still believing in him, even when he didn't.

The elevator doors opened, and he stepped into the penthouse. He suddenly felt exhausted. It had been a very long night, and a very long day. He stumbled over to his bedroom, and collapsed on his bed.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter Ten

_When chess was introduced in Europe, it became a tool of courtly love, seeing as how the game is not physical. _

He was walking through his penthouse although he had no idea what his destination was. Was he hungry? Was he heading over to the office? He walked over to the elevator when he spotted her sitting down across from the couch, just like she always did.

"Oliver", she started smiling widely. "I'm so proud of you."

He walked over to her in confusion. She was wearing the golden dress, but he hadn't been drinking. Had he? "Am I…drunk?" he asked as he sat on the couch

She shook her head. "No, you're dreaming."

"What do you mean, I'm dreaming? I haven't dreamt in months. If you could just come into my dreams, then why didn't you do so in the first place?"

"This is a one-time thing. I won't be in your dreams again."

Was she leaving forever? "But you'll still be there if I drink, right?"

"No, I don't think so."

He felt his stomach drop. How was he going to do all of this without her? "Why?" he whispered

"The only reason I was around when you were drunk in the first place is because you needed me. And now…you don't anymore, Ollie. I don't think that you ever truly did."

He shook his head. "That's not true; you know that's not true. I needed you before, and I still need you now. I've only gotten to this point in the first place because of you!"

She crossed her ankles. "No, Ollie. You had a savior today- someone who was willing to put you through hell in order to find the hero within. And it wasn't me."

"Whoever it was saved me one time. That's it. You've been there by my side every single night. You were there in Mexico with me."

She smiled. "You're wrong. It hasn't been the first time that they saved your life."

He didn't understand. He would have remembered it if the whole Roulette thing happened before. "What do you mean, it wasn't the first time?"

She leaned forward in her seat. "Think, Ollie. Think about every bad thing that has happened to you in the past year. Who knew about everything? Most importantly, who has silently been there for you all this time?"

He vaguely remembered getting poisoned and then recovering without knowing how. And then he thought about Lex Luthor. Chloe found out, and he asked her to keep it a secret. She hated that he blamed Toyman for the explosion, but agreed.

Toyman- someone activated the fire-alarms when Toyman set him up at the shareholder's meeting. He remembered thinking that it was either Victor or Chloe who had deactivated it. He remembered watching this Chloe give him a disappointed look when he said Victor's name.

She knew the truth. She knew what was going to happen the entire time. But she couldn't say anything. "When you first appeared, you told me that you were a compilation of both my memories and Chloe's didn't you?"

She smiled knowingly. "What else have you figured out?"

"She was the one who hacked into the systems and activated the fire-alarms, wasn't she?"

"Yes", she confirmed

"You just said that someone was willing to put me through hell. The real Chloe asked me what kind of game put someone through hell. You used almost her exactly phrasing."

"And?"

He racked his brain for a moment. He thought of Mercy and the camera on his belt. But in the end, she didn't care for what he was doing. It was never her. And the camera was a silent way of being there, of keeping an eye on him.

"Chloe put a camera on my belt buckle, didn't she?"

She nodded. He let out a laugh.

"What, feel violated?" she asked

"No, I'm impressed actually. She snuck in and out without me even knowing about it. And the camera's good. I didn't even notice it when I put the belt on."

She grinned. "Courtesy of Queen Industries."

"Of course."

There was a small period of silence. "Ollie, you're going to be busy with your company and patrol, but there are two more things that you have to do", she said.

He looked at her. "What?

She took a deep breath. "Firstly, you have to save her. The real Chloe."

Why would she need saving? "Save her? She's already saved me- she seems put together enough."

She shook her head sadly. "She spends day and night at the Watchtower. She's afraid to leave it, and only goes to the Talon to sleep a minimum amount of hours. She's focused as hell, but she's losing herself."

"Define 'losing herself'", he said as he put up air-quotes.

"You've been dependent on the bottle for months, right?" He nodded. "She's become attached to her computers in a similar way. She doesn't trust anybody anymore- all conversations with people are business and nothing personal."

All conversations with people. She got the League back together. He knew that a dog couldn't break the glass in that warehouse. It was Canary. And the laptop that showed his account being emptied, that was all Cyborg because she had to put on an innocent act in case Clark sped in and saw what she was up to. In fact, there was a chance that Boyscout was in on the whole thing.

The truck- he knew that he didn't escape at the last minute. The doors were smashed in. Impulse sped him out before he got hurt. And Aquaman had some other role in setting everything up, Oliver was sure of it.

But through everything, she wasn't connecting with the League members again, because she couldn't trust them. Just like he couldn't trust Lois or Clark. And why thankfully, he couldn't tell Tess the truth. But at the end of the day, Oliver had a hallucination to talk to. Chloe probably didn't have anything.

"Okay, I'll help Chloe. What's the second thing that I have to do?" he asked

"You have to let me go", she said simply.

"I can't do that", he told her.

"Why not?"

He had to say it, now before it was too late. Before she disappeared without hearing it. It wasn't the time for nervousness, even though he had never said it before.

"Because I'm in love with you." He said, throwing his hands up in defeat

She looked down at the floor. "Oliver, you knew that this was going to happen. You said so a while ago- that when things get fixed, I'm going to be gone. And you were right."

"Why can't you stay?" he asked, frustrated "Why can't you help me save the real Chloe?"

"Because you don't need me anymore."

He shot up from the couch. "Yes, I do! You have no idea how much I need you. I can't do any of this without you!"

He expected her to get up and meet him at eye-level. To speak to him sternly and give him orders. And if this was really the last time that he would see her, he would listen.

But she didn't. "Do you remember when you asked me about her? You wanted her to have hallucinations of you so that you could help her somehow."

He crossed his arms. "Yes, I remember", he muttered.

"I told you that you were in no condition to help her. You weren't then. But you are now."

"But that's only because of her and you!" he argued

"Oliver, please sit down", she said softly.

He let out a sigh and did so. "How am I going to be able to do everything without you? Running the company, patrolling, saving her. I can't do it without you- I'll fall right back down."

She gently held his hands in hers. They were warm to the touch. It was the first time that he had ever been able to touch her.

"Ollie, listen to me", she said as she looked straight into his eyes. "I'm a part of your conscience. And I'm always going to be there. But the part of me that you fell in love with, that's her. The physical appearance, the dress, the heels, the persistence, the personality- it's all her."

"What if it isn't?" he asked fearfully

"It's meant to be. Haven't you ever wondered why I have the same appearance as her? Why I'm not Lois or Tess?"

He had wondered that. And every time he messed up, he wondered why she never changed forms. She was always there, always her.

"I'm not going to say that it's going to be easy. It isn't. It's going to be an eternal battle with her. She's just as stubborn as you are", she finished with a small laugh.

"She'll never be safe with me."

"She's been hanging around Clark Kent since high school. She doesn't want a safe life. But she sure as hell can keep you safe."

It was true. There was no arguing with Watchtower during a mission.

She placed his hands back on his lap, and let go. "She's real, Oliver. After everything that you've been through, don't you think that you deserve something real?"

He nodded.

"You're not meant to be alone in this world. And neither is she. Help her to feel again."

She stood up, and held out her hand. "It's time, Ollie. Time to reacquaint yourself with the hero within."

He took her hand, and stood up. He pulled her into a tight hug. "I'll never forget you", he whispered into her ear.

"Promise me that you'll be good to her." She said softly

"I promise."

As he held her, every color in the penthouse started to become brighter. Shapes distorted to the point of being beyond recognition. He closed his eyes when the brightness of the room was starting to blind him. He held on to her warmth for as long as he could.

"_In chess, the Queen is the King's most powerful ally."_

Oliver Queen opened up his eyes and sat up in bed. He suddenly felt pain rushing to his head. He blinked a couple of times as he held his head in his hands and smiled. A hangover. Consequences for months of drinking at a time. He could dream and feel pain again. Everything was okay again.

The dream that he had wasn't just a dream- he knew that. It was the real Chloe; she was the one who ran the Roulette operation after she got the team back together. It didn't matter whether the hallucination was right about the two of them fitting together or not. She helped him when everybody else gave up on him. Even if they didn't work out, he was still going to try.

He got out of bed and opened up the Arrow Room. He disregarded his gear for a moment, and headed for the safe. It was small, but very precious to him. Most of the his parents belongings were safely secure at the mansion in Star City, but this safe held some things that he couldn't be without.

It was why the safe had extra security precautions. 3 combinations, a fingerprint scan, and a retina scan later, he opened the door. There was a laminated letter from his mother that he found on the island, and a toy bow that his father gave him as a child. But he wasn't looking for those.

He reached for a black velvet box, and opened it. Inside, there was a simple white chess piece- it was a Queen. He would never forget the day his father gave it to him, all those years ago. He was only a small boy at the time.

"Why does Mommy have that on her dresser?" he asked his father

His father picked up a chess piece. Although it looked identical to the piece Oliver held in his hands now, it was not the same.

"This? Don't you know that you're a Queen, Ollie?"

Oliver nodded. "It's a girly last name", he huffed.

Robert Queen let out a laugh. "It's a powerful last name", he said as he directed his son towards the window. "Look, right there", he pointed. "That's Queen Industries. My father ran it when I was your age. And his father before him."

He steered Oliver away from the window, got down on his knees. "One day, you will take over the company. And it will be hard work. You won't be able to do it alone forever. You'll need a partner."

"A partner?"

"An equal." Mr. Queen held out the chess piece. "We've played chess together hundreds of times, Ollie. Do you remember what the Queen can do?"

"The Queen can move in every direction, in as many squares as possible." Oliver answered

"Exactly. The Queen is the King's most powerful ally. As long as the Queen is still around, the King has a shot of winning. Now, that's not to say that he can't win without her. But it's almost impossible."

"And Mommy…?"

"Mommy is my equal. My partner. And my good luck charm. It's almost impossible for me to win without her. And one day, when things get a little tough, your equal will be there to help you get out of it. And that's when you'll give that person one of these. So that you'll always remember."

And years later, his father was still right. Things had become impossible, and Chloe was there, helping him get out of it. She was his equal. And he would never forget it. He closed the safe, and left the Arrow room, closing it behind him. It was time.

Oliver saw her in the distance, sipping her coffee and reading the Daily Planet. He took a deep breath, and walked up from behind her. He took the chess piece out of his pocket.

He placed it on the table, and marked Chloe Sullivan as his equal. "Nicely played." He told her

She looked guilty for a moment before looking up at him. He walked around her to the other side of the table. "I started asking myself who knew about Lex", he pulled out a chair and sat down. "About Toyman, the things I had given up, what I tried to do."

He rested his hands on the table. "And it all occurred to me: Dinah shattered the glass in the warehouse, Bart rescued me from the car, Victor faked the computers, and Watchtower kept an eye on the whole thing. Right?"

He couldn't keep himself from smiling proudly. He knew that he was right- in a way, she had told him herself. All he needed now was a confirmation. Just so that he wasn't completely crazy.

She stared at him blankly for a moment. Oh no, he actually was crazy.

And then, she shook her head slightly. "You were living like you had a death wish, Oliver." A small smile crept on his face. So the dream was real. She wasn't lying. "You had to face your demons if you were ever going to make it out alive, and I had to push you over the ledge in order to pull you back."

Yes, but was it all necessary? "Did you have to push with a three ton truck?" he asked

"I didn't think a tricycle would be a strong enough point", she said as she leaned forward. Just like the hallucination did in that golden dress. "You're a fighter, Oliver." He smiled widely. "You fought for yourself, and for a second chance."

But Lois was involved too. She was almost killed. Clark could have been in trouble, and the people at that casino could have figured out the identities of the entire League. "Chloe, I'm not the only one you put at risk", he told her.

"If you're worried about our little club and Lex, don't be. I played my cards close to my chest."

"And Lois, she was what? She was just another ace up your sleeve?"

"No, I never meant for her to get involved." Good, because it's not about her anymore. It's about you.

"She was chasing after you when she accidentally storming the field. That's when Victoria went off script", she continued.

He could have taken the shot at Victoria. Could have shot Lois unintentionally. "I could have killed her."

"No offense to your manhood, but I made sure that your gun was loaded with blanks, just in case."

Of course she would have. Watchtower never left room for error, and neither did Chloe.

"I trust you Oliver, just…not that much", she said as she took a sip of her coffee.

He would have to fix that. He would have to fix her wavering faith in humanity, and he would have to make her trust him again. Just like she used to.

He would have to make her trust him as much as she used to trust Clark. He wondered if Clark knew what she was up to, if he had played a part in the whole thing. "Did Clark know about this?" he asked

She scoffed. "You can't be serious. Clark would never in a million years risk what needed to be done."

He should have known better- Clark promised that he would help him, but he never did. And neither did Lois. They weren't meant to; only his equal could have saved him. And she did.

"Well, he's led a different life than we have, hasn't he?"

That's when he realized how separate the lives of Lois and Clark were from him and Chloe. She worked side by side with him on multiple occasions. How could he have missed it before? How could he have been so blind to her?

"I can't expect him to know me like you do", he continued. "The places that I had sunk to, the depths that you must have had to go to bring me back. Thank you."

"You proved it to yourself", she insisted. "Even with your face in the gutter, you still had the hero in your heart."

He reached across the table, and grabbed her hand. They were warm, and provided the same comfort that his final hug with her hallucination had in the dream. He couldn't believe that after all this time wondering what it would be like to touch her, he was holding her hand.

And it was better. She was real. He didn't need her to be in a golden dress in order to see how beautiful she really was.

"You saved my life, Chloe. Both the myth", he said, considering everything that she had done. She had tracked down the members of the League, and brought them back together before saving the myth of the Green Arrow.

"And the man", he finished, as he thought of the hallucination. Every night that he was drunk, miserable, and suicidal. She was there throughout the entire thing. She tried to stop him from getting into a car drunk, and made him think about what he was doing.

She was there in Mexico, when all he wanted was to escape the pain and guilt from what he had done. And while she was in Mexico, she tried to get him to talk to Tess.

She thought that Tess was being genuine- that part of Chloe that trusted in people was still in there somewhere. He was going to find that part of her again, and save her.

She was the Queen, his most powerful ally. And he was going to prove that he can be the King to conquer her heart.

-Fin-

A/N: Yeah, remember that whole "I'm not going to write a sequel for this one thing? I reconsidered. I've been focusing on Erase recently, and after I finish that, I want to finish Survival. But I'll come back to this story, and write the sequel. Look out for "King".


End file.
